What to say about Final Fantasy music that hasn't been said before...

As I thought about that sentence, you know the first thing that popped into my mind. 'The Forested Temple,' the tune played for the Temple of the Ancients segment of Final Fantasy VII. Which I haven't played in while, and never really find to be that excellent. However, getting to the temple of the Ancients was quite a challenge. Well, not really, I somehow managed to miss it for what felt like months, and after 10 years or so of not playing other than the odd poke around, I finally find the right place to go to.

And what great music to wander into after essentially a 10 year break. Such different music to most of the game, and indeed that consistent backing piece behind a fairly varied song gave the game a great sense of mystery for me at the time. Which, given this was 10 years later I pretty much knew the story beats of the game thanks to the internet, but the music somehow managed to remystify the game at this moment.

It's quite odd, because while I never think of my self as much of a Final Fantasy VII person, and rarely listen to its music on its own, the only music that comes to mind is from there. The other iconic tune for me 'You can hear the cry of the planet' a tune that comes up in the Forgotten City. This is the music that builds up to a very important moment in the story of VII. Usually, the kind of music played at this point I would have thought should be more desperate, more in need, more dramatic. This music has a strange bizarre, yet consistent backing to it that doesn't sound like any instrument most people would know. With a slow mysterious tune overlaying it. This music didn't add a sense of urgency to the event, it added unease and curiosity. Combined with the odd aesthetic of the town this segment is really memorable.

So, I think the all I can really say about the music of Final Fantasy is that you really do remember it. It's something that sticks with you for a long time even if you don't think about it, when asked to, you will recall not only the music, but the position and events at the time, really enhancing the feeling to what were till recently, very technically limited games, so music had to do much more work than it might now to get lasting feelings from players. By no means are these the best tracks in Final Fantasy history, but when I thought about answering this question, this is what I thought of.